The present invention relates to monitoring wireless digital networks, and more particularly, to combining data from multiple sensors in a wireless network.
Wireless digital networks are becoming ubiquitous in enterprises, providing secure and cost-effective access to resources. Those networks usually have one or more controllers, each controller supporting a plurality of access points (AP) deployed through the enterprise. WiFi networks operating in accordance with IEEE 802.11 standards are examples of such networks.
Unfortunately, the frequencies used by these networks are shared. They are shared not only among the wireless networks themselves, but also with other non-network radiators. Non-network radiators, devices such as microwave ovens, wireless video streaming devices, cordless phones, and the like, as well as other wireless networking devices, can cause interference with the operation of a network. Interfering devices can come and go, change their nature, and move around. As an example, replacing or adding a microwave oven in an employee lounge area can dramatically alter the interference present to a network.
In searching out sources of interference to a wireless network, various pieces of test equipment such as spectrum analyzers are used. A professional spectrum analyzer has a calibrated receiver of exquisite sensitivity, and is able to display and measure signals over a wide range of frequencies and amplitudes. They also range in price from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars, and require a skilled operator. This places them outside the realm of the normal wireless network engineer.
What a digital wireless network does have is a plurality of narrowband radios, in the form of access points and wireless client devices. While these radios may not have the performance of a high quality spectrum analyzer, they are capable of collecting data on narrow portions of the spectrum used by the network.
A typical wireless network may have a plurality of monitoring devices, ranging from dedicated spectrum monitors (SMs), access points (APs) with spectrum monitoring capability, and even client devices with spectrum monitoring capability. These different monitoring devices may have differing capabilities, in terms of measurement capabilities, such as sensitivity, accuracy, response time, resolution bandwidth, measurement bandwidth, and the like.
What is needed is a way of combining or correlating data from multiple monitors to provide a cohesive view of the spectrum of interest.